Slice of life in a carwash under pressure
There’s so much going on in Ostan that sometimes it’s hard to make out what’s going on.
Making a meal, building a community
An Iranian exile and a hob cook up a tasty 70 minutes of drama in My English Persian Kitchen at the Soho Theatre.
Working yourself into the ground
“All jobs bring honor and nobility, even work that is socially discounted or demeaned,’ read a US Labor Day message I once read. A new exhibition, Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights, looks at the underside of that message.
Young lovers and a mother in a Himalayan triangle
Follow the journey of 16-year-old Mira, whose sexy, rebellious coming of age is disrupted by her young mother who never got to come of age herself.
Mandoob shines a light on Saudi Arabia’s underbelly
How do you see Saudi Arabia: seemingly limitless oil, wealth beyond imagination, awesome skyscrapers, groups of men in thobes? All part of the picture. But there’s an underbelly, too..
Black LGBTQIA+ lives matter, shout Muholi’s photographs
What a fabulous exhibition. The South African faces – including the magnificent self-portraits – look you in the eye, haunt you, challenge you, inform you.
Bahamian artist wants us to see the light
Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan’s exhibition at the Hayward Gallery is called There Is Light Somewhere. There is, and he’s found it.
It’s a (Nigerian-British) family affair
Strong story, superb writing, powerful acting — what more do you want from theatre? Go and see My Father’s Fable.
When Farsi-speaking learners go for the full English
English has five characters - four adult students and a teacher. But the real central character is the language itself, for better or for worse.
‘I beg you my sister, don’t dare to get involved in politics’
For many Brits, Mau Mau conjures up images of horrifyingly brutal Black men swearing frighteningly bloodthirsty oaths before committing unspeakable atrocities against White people.
It’s a family affair
You know you’ll get strong meat when a Suzan-Lori Parks play is on the menu. The Book of Grace is no exception.
The drama of May 35th
May 35th is a play about a date that doesn’t exist, on a subject that in China is taboo, presented by a group many of whom must conceal their real names.
Love and poaching in a Caspian town
Young love runs into rough water in Empty Nests, a moving drama set on Iran’s Caspian coast.
A fatal accident that binds two Sudanese women
Goodbye Julia Is perfect proof that the personal is political. It is the story of two women whose lives are intimately entwined after an accident in which one accidentally kills the other’s son in a road accident.
Spotlight on the motives of Western aid workers
Multiple Casualty Incident is about three people taking part in a series of role-plays in London as preparation for being sent abroad to deal with an emergency in a refugee camp in the Middle East.
Oh my dayz: by Somali women, for everyone
British-Somali writer Sabrina Ali enjoyed making her friends laugh at school and now she’s making audiences laugh at the Royal Court theatre.
A hole in the ceiling offers an escape from war - and patriarchy?
Tender, humorous, innocent, fresh, romantic, touching - yes, Nezouh is another film on the conflict in Syrian and the risk of dangerous escape routes to Europe.
The music that changed Britain
Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music is on show at the British Library. Wait: make that 523 years, because John Blanke, a royal trumpeter in the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, probably arrived in 1501.
India v England: time to dismantle some of the rules?
Swearing, sex talk, insults, epithets, rivalry: a group of World Cup players row, spill secrets and get on each others’ nerves. These women are all Indian and English cricketers, and their shared impatience make for a lively first act of Testmatch at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond.
Hopes and fears for the Palestinian serving five life sentences
Tomorrow’s Freedom is the optimistic title of a new documentary about Palestine’s “Prince of Freedom” aka “Palestine’s Nelson Mandela”, Marwan Barghouthi.